Total pay increases by 1.7%

Total pay in Britain, including bonuses, increased by 1.7% between January-March 2015 and January-March 2016, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Its UK labour market May 2016 report found that regular pay, excluding bonuses, increased by 1.8% in real terms between January-March 2015 and January-March 2016.

The research also found:

Average regular, pay excluding bonuses, was £468 a week in March 2016 before tax and other deductions, an increase on last year’s £460.

Average total pay, including bonuses, was £499 a week before tax and other deductions. This compares to £490 a week in March 2015.

In nominal terms, regular pay increased by 2.1% between January-March 2015 and January-March 2016, and total pay increased by 2%.

Between January 2000 and March 2016, average total pay in Great Britain increased by 60.4% when not adjusted for consumer price inflation, rising from £311 a week to £499 a week.

Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Wages may have been supressed by the government’s auto-enrolment pension reforms over the last few years, which have meant employers have had to pay into retirement schemes for their staff, potentially encouraging them to dip into the wage bill to fund this extra spending.

“The new national living wage also adds to the wage growth conundrum. In theory this should lead to higher wages all round, but a recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) survey showed that employers were looking to help settle the additional costs of the higher minimum wage by limiting wage increases for better paid workers.”